the carillon the staff
editor-in-chief editor@carillonregina.com
holly funk
executive director business@carillonregina.com
jacob nelson
production manager production@carillonregina.com
morgan ortman
advertising manager advertising@carillonregina.com
ty cote
technical editor tech@carillonregina.com
shae sackman
multimedia/graphics editors multimedia@carillonregina.com graphics@carillonregina.com
sarah carrier rooky jedege
copy editor copyeditor@carillonregina.com
aurel dumont
news editor news@carillonregina.com
sara birrell
a&c editor aandc@carillonregina.com
hannah eiserman
sports editor sports@carillonregina.com
vacant
op-ed editor op-ed@carillonregina.com
sarah nakonechny
distribution manager distribution@carillonregina.com staff writer
hammad ali
staff writer
gillian massie
news writer
liam o’connor
a&c writer
jorah bright
sports writer
victoria baht
web writer
vacant
mindy friesen
vol. 64
kyle anderson
contributors
board of directors holly funk, lindsay holitzki, joseph holoein, dustin smith, jacob nelson and honourary members hammad ali, cassandra byblow and morgan ortman
the paper
227 Riddell Center University of Regina - 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2 www.carillonregina.com Ph: (306) 586 8867 Printed by Star Press Inc, Wainwright, AB The Carillon welcomes contributions. Opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are expressly those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Carillon Newspaper Inc. Opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in the Carillon are those of the advertisers, and not necessarily of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. or its staff. The Carillon is published no less than 11 times each semester during the fall and winter semesters and periodically throughout the summer. The Carillon is published by the Carillon Newspaper Inc., a non-profit organization. land acknowledgement The Carillon is written on treaty four territory. As such, the staff recognize that we are living, working, and telling stories on and of Indigenous lands. We recognize that we are on the traditional homelands of the Nakota, Lakota, and Dakota peoples, along with the homeland of the Métis nation. The carillon understands that it is pointless to acknowledge the land on which we work without speaking to our commitment to telling stories and prioritizing voices that further the return of the land to its place sacred place in the cultures of those that live here. the manifesto In keeping with our reckless, devil-may-care image, our office has absolutely no concrete information on the Carillon’s formative years readily available. What follows is the story that’s been passed down from editor to editor for over sixty years. In the late 1950s, the University of Regina planned the construction of several new buildings on the campus grounds. One of these proposed buildlings was a beltower on the academic green. If you look out on the academic green today, the first thing you’ll notice is that it has absolutely nothing resembling a belltower. The University never got a belltower, but what it did get was the Carillon, a newspaper that serves as a symbolic bell tower on campus, a loud and clear voice belonging to each and every student.
the people’s friend; the tyrant’s foe
The University of Regina Students’ Newspaper Since 1962 September 30 - October 6, 2021 | Volume 64, Issue 6 | carillonregina.com
news
news
arts
With this sixth issue we’re officially a quarter of the way through everything we’ll be publishing this academic year - how is it already getting so cold my plants have to be brought inside? We’re excited to share these stories written by students who’ve found a way to put all their thoughts, research, and passion together into something legible, and as always we do take contributions so if anything in this issue sparks a pitch in you, please let us know! We’re also still looking for a sports editor, news writer, and staff writer, so please check out our website’s hiring page if those sound like areas of writing you’d enjoy.
Access fees
p.3
As if a 4 per cent tuition hike after 18 months in a pandemic job market wasn’t insulting enough, uni will charge for student document access in part for “staff costs that we need to pay for.”
Campus cryptid
p.6
Sightings of a strange being in the elevator of the Classroom building prompted investigation; local experts are confident a new cryptid has been identified.
sports
sports
Artist spotlight: Rooky
p.9
RnB musician and Carillon Graphic Editor Rooky Kamiz takes the spotlight with this week’s feature on his music, method, and motivation.
op-ed
Thank you for making the time to read our work, and even moreso for taking our work seriously. Holly Funk Editor-in-chief
photos
cover......................................sarah carrier news.........................................jason leung news..............................................pixabay a&c.............................................rick davis sports...............................holly mandarich sports.........................................yves bison op-ed.........................wikipedia commons
Hiking spaces
p.14
This second article in our No way dude, the best hiking spot has to be... series takes an intimate look at the ways we perceive and connect with the spaces we put ourselves in.
Tiktok fisher
p.12
The Carillon talks to Tiktoker Ryan Parrot about his love of fishing and his favourite catches along the way!
Sham election
p.17
Democracy’s not dead! I swear, I just saw it dragging its broken, battered, misshapen form around last week.
news
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editor: sara birrell news@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
University says students paying for “convenience” with new fees Paying for what was free
liam o’connor news writer The University of Regina is implementing a new technology for students called “MyCreds.” It’s supposed to improve ease of access and convenience for obtaining student documents, and is supposedly much easier than it was before. However, it doesn’t come for free. There are going to be varying fees for students to access different documents. James D’Arcy, registrar at the U of R, joined the Carillon via phone call to discuss the system. To explain what MyCreds is exactly, D’Arcy, whose salary is $185,169, said, “My Credit is a digital or virtual document wallet, which is like a national network of post-secondary institutions across Canada. So, My Credit is a place where we issue those documents, and they are housed in a single digital wallet for students.” According to D’Arcy, MyCreds will be worth it in the long run and benefits the students greatly. Although since students at the U of R pay more for schooling pretty well every year, it’s not clear that additional fees for documents that used to be free will be welcome. When asked about how beneficial something like the MyCreds program is for students, D’Arcy said, “number one, you’ll have all your documents in one place. And as more and more schools get on board with the system, you’ll be able to access all of those documents in a single wallet.
So, if you attended the University of Alberta, who’s on the system, the University of Calgary who’s on that system and the University of Regina, you would be able to access all your documents issued from those institutions through the same system. Okay. So then the benefit, the other benefit is that it facilitates, you know, ease in the submission of documents” However, not all students are going from university to university, so it mostly benefits the few who will attend multiple schools. Students are already paying through the roof for schooling.
that out, you know, as many times as you want.” As explained by D’Arcy, MyCreds will have a one-year expiry on transcripts and will also be benefitting the university. D’Arcy said the system will bring in additional money to the department. On whether or not the university is profiting off the system, D’Arcy said, “not really because we do have, you know, staff costs that we need to pay for. There’s individuals that need to go into the system and issue the document.” He continued by saying, “I wouldn’t really say that we’re losing mon-
services onto students.” She said, “they’re raising the cost of education by making us pay for all of these, like, special little add ons. So, I’m not super impressed that now students are being charged for things that they haven’t been charged for before.” Tait isn’t happy with the university pushing more costs on to the students. In response to students who might be outraged at another cost being tacked on, she said “I have a couple ideas because of my personal, kind of like, pet peeve, is this move to the digital learning environment
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I’m not super impressed that now students are being charged for things that they haven’t been charged for before. – Hannah Tait
D’Arcy justifies the students being forced to pay for their own credentials and the cost of the program by saying, “the fee that we chose to charge is amongst the lowest in Canada, and you know, there’s a convenience aspect of this, of course. It does cost to actually, you know, issue the documents, but the convenience aspect of it is that, you know, once that transcript is issued, it has a oneyear expiry, and you can share
ey, but it does help contribute to the administrative support that’s required to issue academic documents.” To her surprise, the President of the Students Union, Hannah Tait, was just informed about the MyCreds system when she logged into her personal Self-Service account. Tait said “my initial reaction is that the university is getting all of these new digital services, and they’re shifting the cost of the
without doing it in a conscious way.” MyCreds has got Tait thinking on potential plans for a solution to the additional costs the system brings. She thinks that the best way URSU can deal with the problem is through advocacy and getting the university to see the student perspective on the matter. Another possible solution she sees is the university internalizing the cost of the program.
Potentially, if all else fails, Tait wants to create some kind of funding or reimbursement for those who cannot afford the system. Tait said, “and then if that’s not, I guess, working well enough URSU would be able to potentially look into getting student funding to work through this process with students. For example, a reimbursement process, or another example, for reimbursement for people who need it, but I guess another example would be like, you could sponsor a peer-to-peer sponsorship situation. When we spend money, we’d have to look at the budget, we have created and approved our budget already, so we’re going to have to do some math and figure out what it’s all looking like.” Another option that was discussed was the possibility of getting the university to cancel the MyCreds system altogether and how realistic that would be. Tait didn’t want to make any promises on the matter, but she didn’t want to say that possibility would be impossible. She said, “I think with URSU’s new direction, and new leadership, that we’re going to be headed in a much stronger direction where we do actually have a voice and when we do, you really have power in these conversations. So, honestly, in my position, if you’re not an optimist, you’re not going to make it. So, you know what I’m gonna say, yes, it is realistic.”
Jason Leung via Unsplash
James D’Arcy’s salary is $185,169.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 4
news
Fridays for Future resumes after summer of extreme heat, drought Youth-led movement
liam o’connor news writer On September 24, the Fridays for Future protest resumed after a brief hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. The protest is a global event that champions justice for the environment and brings people together to hold our government accountable to the 2015 Paris Accord. It began back in 2018, and it was initiated by a then-15-year-old Greta Thunberg, the now world-famous environmentalist. They are largely youth-led events that include young people who might not be eligible to vote yet, but want a way to voice their concerns about the on-going climate crisis. In Regina, Mac Findley, who is one of the youth-organizers of Fridays for Future, spoke with the Carillon about his involvement in the movement. He said, “I wanted to see what it was like, so I went and I was really inspired. There were over like, 500 people at the first strike I went to and then I went to the one on the 27 of September 2019, and there was, I believe, an estimated 1,000 people at that one, and I knew I wanted to get involved right away.” Ever since, Findley says he and other youth organizers have been working hard over the time off to put on future events. He’s especially happy with the turnout of young people and students at the legislature. Findley said, “I think it was definitely so amazing to see such strong support from the commu-
Rooky Jegede
Climate change still on.
nity and students like high school students and university students. After so long, you know, we didn’t know exactly how many people would come, but there was a strong show of support.” Overall, Findley feels like the Fridays for Future group has a lot to be proud of and he thinks the people who show up are the ones to thank for that. In his eyes, they have accomplished a great deal in the time they have been at it. He said, “in terms of accomplish-
sion with them regarding climate change and immediate action. Findley said, “we want any government that’s in a position of power to act based on science, and we’ve had some good dialogues. In the future, we hope to have really put pressure or to see some of our demands implemented more boldly, but we’ve been pleased with the dialogue that we’ve been able to have.” While Findley is pleased with the dialogue, he is still insistent on
below the 2010 levels by 2030. So, we are calling on the government to remake their climate plan to introduce this target. We’re also asking the government to remake their strategy alongside Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan, support Indigenous-led conservation, and ensure that all the solutions needed to tackle the issue of climate change are based around Indigenous knowledge systems alongside science.” Another call to action the
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I think we feel confident that we’ve made people bring awareness into the community around the issue of climate change, but that’s in large part to the people who choose to come out to the strikes. – Mac Findley
ments, we’ve definitely won. I think we feel confident that we’ve made people bring awareness into the community around the issue of climate change, but that’s in large part to the people who choose to come out to the strikes. That’s what makes them successful and that’s what gets the attention of public, political leaders in Saskatchewan, and the media.” The non-partisan group welcomes and encourages politicians to come to the events. They’ve had politicians attending and have been able to create a discus-
pushing for more action from the government. According to Findley, Fridays for Future has three main demands they want the government to hear and put to action immediately. They are aware the Saskatchewan government has a climate change strategy called “Prairie Resilience” that aims to reduce emission, but Fridays for Future believes that this goal is not enough to meet the Paris Accord. Findley said, “every nation in the world has to reduce their emissions by at least 45 per cent [sic]
group of environmentalists wants is for the government to have a concrete plan for workers who are currently in the fossil fuel industry who need to transfer over into a green/renewable industry. In a closing statement from Findley, he spoke about the challenges Fridays for Future faces in Saskatchewan. He indicated that action needs to be taken as soon as possible because it is not only a problem of the future, it is now an issue of the present. He said, “as we know, climate change is impacting all of us around the
world, and has impacted Canada drastically this past year. To mention the wildfires in British Columbia, extreme heat waves, and impacts devastating communities. So, the struggle is that the action still needs to be taken.” URSU President, Hannah Tait, attended the climate strike and shared a few of her thoughts with the Carillon. She said, “I was really glad to see a lot of students, a lot of student leaders there and a lot of the older community, but what was interesting was there is only one MLA there.” Overall, Tait thought there was a good turnout from high schoolers and found the event inspiring. Tait expressed that she has spoken with the new U of R President, Dr. Jeff Keshen, and is hopeful about the environmental possibilities they can accomplish on campus together. Tait said, “in my conversations with the new president, Dr. Keshen, I have gotten the sense that this is a priority for him, but I do have to admit he’s new, so I guess we’ll see. And URSU has been working on some of our own sustainability initiatives.” Some of the projects she mentioned are the community garden, community fridge, and getting recycling bins to the students in residence. The Fridays for Future Facebook page is where information on upcoming events and anything regarding the events can be found.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 5
news
Annamie Paul announces resignation as Green Party leader Brief tenure, complex legacy
sara birrell news editor Annamie Paul, the leader of the Green Party of Canada, announced that she has begun the process of stepping down less than a year after she took over from long-time leader Elizabeth May. Paul’s announcement comes following the party’s lacklustre performance in Election 44, in which she failed to win her own seat. Paul, who is the first Black woman and the first Jewish woman to lead a federal party in Canada, took the helm of the Green Party in October 2020, following eight rounds of voting that ultimately came down to her and Dimitri Lascaris. Paul edged out Lascaris, an ecosocialist, with 12,090 votes to his 10,081. “When I was elected into this role, I broke a glass ceiling,” Paul wrote on Twitter on Monday, a week after the Greens, who appeared to be on an ascent only two years ago when they were able to win multiple seats for the first time in their 38-year history, just managed to hold on to their two seats. “I didn’t realize that when I did, the shards would fall on my head, leaving a trail of broken glass that I would have to climb over.” In her resigna-
tion speech, she added that her contentious relationship with the Green Party caucus, which intensified over the spring and involved one of the party’s only three MPs crossing the floor (bafflingly, to the Liberals), had worn her down. Paul’s resignation presents a challenge to progressive Canadians who want to do a post-mortem on her time as leader. Paul, who was backed by May against
pose Israeli annexation (although she did verbally express her opposition to Israeli annexation), and has repeatedly endorsed a “both sides” approach to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, as though one of those sides doesn’t have a $20.5 billion defense budget while the other is contained in the world’s largest open-air prison. It was Paul’s weak response
at least part of her decision was a tactical – and cynical – attempt to preserve her seat and her pension). Paul also sought a court injunction to avoid a leadership review, and while her performance at the debates this year was widely regarded as superb, she wasn’t able to translate that performance into any additional seats for the party. This is all to say that there are real and valid reasons for the
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When I was elected into this role I broke a glass ceiling. I didn’t realize that when I did, the shards would fall on my head, leaving a trail of broken glass that I would have to climb over. – Annamie Paul
Lascaris but received little support from the former leader after the October convention, has a sketchy record when it comes to human rights abroad. She refused to condemn the 2019 fascist coup in Bolivia and, most damagingly, refused to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in support of Palestine, refused to endorse a pledge to op-
to the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinians in May of 2021, followed by her refusal to defend Jenica Atwin from accusations of antisemitism by Paul’s advisor, Noah Zatzman, that lead to Atwin’s floor-crossing, which reduced the size of the Green Party caucus by one-third (although Atwin’s decision to move over to the Liberals suggests that
leadership challenges that Paul has faced, and that attacks on her have not come out of nowhere. However, it needs to be stated that no small part of the attacks on Paul’s leadership are likely rooted in misogynoir – a particularly pervasive and harmful prejudice against Black women, specifically. It’s extremely hard to quantify a thing like this, especial-
ly when the racism and sexism are not overt, but concealed behind valid criticisms of Paul’s performance and stances. But Paul’s position on Palestine – and foreign policy in general – is not that different from Elizabeth May’s, and May was an extremely popular leader within her own party. May has also taken a “both sides” approach to Palestine, and in 2016, when her party voted in favour of a resolution supporting sanctions against Israel, she told the press that the decision to support Palestinian rights was “polarizing” and that she wasn’t sure she could remain leader. She was not driven out because of the stance, and continued to make “both sides” statements for the remainder of her tenure. Atwin chose to run under the Green Party banner in 2019 despite May’s stance on Israel and the party chose Paul as leader knowing very well what her foreign policy was and is. And although Atwin has been lauded by many on the left for speaking out about Palestinian rights and taking a “principled” stance, her decision to move to a party that is fighting Indigenous children in court and which has condemned the BDS movement suggests that what counts as principled is much different for white women than it is for Black women.
Wikipedia Commons manipulated by Morgan Ortman
Vote, but not for Annamie.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 6
news
Students share harrowing account of cryptid on campus
Admin scrambles to monetize encounters holly funk editor-in-chief Cryptids have been intriguing and eluding humanity for centuries. You have the Mothman, a human-sized moth with glowing red eyes whose presence warns of imminent danger; the Loch Ness Monster, who dips and weaves in her Scotland lake but has rarely made appearances; the Chupacabra, whose spike-lined back is only slightly less terrifying than the way it sucks the blood of livestock to eat. Of course, everyone’s heard of Bigfoot, and alleged video footage is easy enough to find, but we still have no verifiable, solid, undeniable evidence he’s really kicking around. Experiences with any sort of cryptid are few and far between, especially in the prairies – or at least that’s what most Saskatchewan experts believed until this week. On the morning of September 29, 2021 – a day that will go down in cryptozoology books for centuries to come – a new cryptid was discovered in the elevator of the Classroom Building on the U of R campus. There will be skeptics, but we got in contact with three individuals who all claim to have seen the being.
Their reactions differ, but their descriptions align incredibly. “It really freaked me out for a second, like I had no clue how to react when it...he...I don’t know. When it popped up.” said Sanjit, a third-year engineering student. His sentiments were echoed by Amilie, in their second year of an education degree, who could barely choke out the words “How
Amilie, once collected, said that the figure they saw while entering the elevator was theirself, surrounded by a blue-grey cloud but dressed and behaving as they had been exactly three weeks prior. “I had just gotten the syllabus for my first course of the semester and was scheduling everything out in my head, and was feeling super confident about my
dumped my boyfriend. He was a real piece of work, cheated on me more times than I can count on one hand, but I kept thinking I could make him love me enough to stop, so I stuck around. It took me seven years to really learn that being happy alone is better than being miserable with a partner.” Sandy also described the figure as within a blue-grey cloud, but
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To the untrained eye, these events do seem unique, but true cryptid scholars are able to see the common themes running through. Most intriguing is the fact that all individuals saw themselves during a period of transition and growth. – Jane O’Igetit
could that be real?” Sandy, a firstyear biology major, was surprisingly level-headed regarding the whole situation: “While I might not understand exactly what I saw, you can bet your ass I’ll be back with cameras, recording equipment, and Ziploc bags for any evidence.”
approach. I knew I was going to be able to handle whatever came at me. Or at least I thought I did; after seeing that, I’m not so sure.” Sandy’s experience had aspects similar to Amilie’s, and was also personalized. “I saw myself as I was nine months ago, sobbing on that elevator because I’d just
added that the experience left her feeling refreshed and hopeful. Sanjit rounded out the trio with his account of a blue-grey cloud and an image of himself from his past. “It was in the middle of the Winter 2020 semester, and I’d just sent my first extension request to a professor. I was ter-
rified because he seemed like a hard ass in class, but he wound up being really understanding. Getting that extension is what saved my GPA that semester so it was worth the effort, but man was I shaken up.” Local cryptozoologist Jane O’Igetit was called on by both the Biology and Religious Studies departments to remark on the sightings, and to provide justification for why these three seemingly separate events are being attributed to the same cryptid. “To the untrained eye, these events do seem unique, but true cryptid scholars are able to see the common themes running through. Most intriguing is the fact that all individuals saw themselves during a period of transition and growth.” The cryptid is surmised to be telepathic, as it appears to identify the most recent jump in personal growth for an individual and take the form of the individual in that moment. It has been named “Your Best” by O’Igetit, who said the name serves the dual purpose of describing how the being will appear when you see it, and emphasizing the transient and subjective nature of truly being at your best. Pixabay
How I look walking to class on four hours of sleep every Tuesday.
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editor: hannah eiserman aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
The Fifth Parallel Gallery’s upcoming exhibit University art gallery hails submissions for pandemic-themed exhibit Halted
hannah eiserman arts editor The Fifth Parallel Gallery, “run by students for students,” has an open call to University of Regina art students for submissions to their exhibit Halted. The deadline for submissions is October 1. Until I noticed this call advertised on Facebook, I had no idea we had a curated art gallery here at the University – not only am I a fourth-year student, but I also used to be an Arts Education minor! Emily Setor, The Fifth Parallel’s gallery director, had a chat with me this week about the gallery and their mission. At The Fifth, (as Setor calls it), all the staff are currently Visual Art department or Media, Art, and Performance faculty students. They obviously seek to exhibit the work of Visual Arts students, but Setor says that occasionally, they “expand that to include the larger faculty of arts and performance,” including UR improv and “students from music or film.” The work they exhibit is not limited by medium. The upcoming exhibit Halted seeks to show the ways in which people in the creative arts were affected by the pandemic. The main idea is to “give a clear perspective and show how the pandemic has affected the arts,” and that “might mean tenacity, that might mean physically, that might mean through mediums.” How one interprets the theme is up to them because the experience artists have had during the pandemic is diverse, yet largely shared. “Whether you are a musician, or a filmmaker, or a visual artist,” Setor says, “you, [for] one, have lacked an audience, but also if you were in school or you were just a practicing artist, [exhibi-
Haley Klassen
I counted way more than five in this logo – should we call someone?
tions were put on hold] and you were kicked out of studio spaces. So that meant that a lot of projects never came to fruition.” This combination of what is effectively creative exile and forced abandonment meant that artists “are forced to sort of rethink their art practice.” Setor gives the example of “a printmaker that used to rely really heavily on printmaking tools like a press or a screen,” who might have had to shift to “using natural dyes and print[ing] at home instead” because of supply shortages or spatial availability. The expression of the theme may also be topical, says Setor, in that “sometimes that means that people have started creating
being kicked out of class.” Setor notes that The Fifth tends to mostly get submissions across more traditional visual mediums, meaning “painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, and photography.” Setor wants potential exhibitors to know that they “are open and always accepting those mediums,” but would love to explore and “accept more sort of experimental mediums.” According to her, artists “that work in sound art,” or “that are doing experimental video art or film” are particularly underrepresented. Setor would also love to showcase more performance art when it’s feasible. This representation comes, in part, from the university “favouring” traditional medi-
want people to be able to come in and interact, and have our families come into our shows, and our friends, and talk about our work” when it’s right there. “It’s really unfortunate that so many of us have missed out on that in this last year and a half,” she says, “but that the reality is that this is what we’re living in now.” The art community has dealt with a lot of hardship over the course of the pandemic, but Setor argues that there are some bonuses to the virtual system The Fifth has adapted to. “One of the pros is that more people see your art when it’s online,” Setor says. “I had a student who did an exhibition last year who had an article written about him in the Estevan
“
I had a student who did an exhibition last year who had an article written about him in the Estevan journal because someone shared it on Facebook and a journalist saw that his work was in the show. So, it’s that sort of thing where if that show wasn’t exhibited online, that wouldn’t have happened. – Emily Setor
work about life in isolation, or about sickness, or about the pandemic just generally.” The theme can also be taken literally, in that ideas one was really passionate about are simply abandoned, or “left on pause for the moment.” This means that The Fifth is open to exhibiting work such as “sculptures that are not fully worked out, or prints that are half done, or paintings that were sort of left in the midst of the pandemic and
ums, but Setor notes that “there are students [here] that venture beyond those and work in more experimental [forms]” and the Fifth would love to showcase that. Seton has been with the gallery since COVID-19’s inception and says that submissions have been “hit or miss,” largely because students have seemed hesitant to display or submit work. This is likely because, as Setor says, “as artists we always like,
journal because someone shared it on Facebook and a journalist saw that his work was in the show. So, it’s that sort of thing where if that show wasn’t exhibited online, that wouldn’t have happened. It opens the door for different people – and you never know who’s going to see your work, or who’s going to share what on what social media platform – that will lead to something else.” There are pros to exhibiting online that
students should be “more keen or excited about, even if they’re sort of missing the in-person interaction.” In the future, Seton hopes that “people continue to get involved with The Fifth.” Her best advice to artists is “always, always put work out there. It should never be an intimidating thing, because even if you submit for this and it maybe doesn’t 100% fit what we’ve called for, at least we know the kind of work that [students are doing,] so that we can plan and program according to the work that’s out there.” More importantly, “students don’t necessarily know what we have programmed,” so if someone submits work about “the climate crisis and the pandemic,” for example, “that’s a great topic that [The Fifth] might have a program for in three months from now.” “The University of Regina is a small school,” Setor says, “but our visual arts program is great. We have lots of talented student artists and it’s a great opportunity to engage with our community in Regina.” The Halted exhibit in particular, she hopes, will draw more prospective exhibitors into their orbit. For Setor, the exhibit has large potential as many artists may have work fitting the criteria, and then from there artists may continue to submit to the gallery as the school year progresses. Additionally, Setor hopes she can soon welcome visitors back into The Fifth in person. Currently, only the gallery staff is permitted in the physical space, so patrons can view the artworks online. In the future, a (for now) intangible time when we can safely gather, the Fifth Parallel gallery’s hours will return to nine to four, Monday to Friday.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
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Interview with Ava Hofmann, part two!
Poet Ava Hofmann talks process, her collection […], questioning your beliefs, and transness
shae sackman tech editor
Last week, poet Ava Hofmann provided a step-by-step guide to approaching her beautiful new collection […], available for pre-order October 1 by Astrophil Press. This week the interview continues as we discuss creation, inspiration, and the process for creating a work like […]. When asked about what the most challenging part of writing was for Hofmann, her answer, just like her poetry, is nuanced, thoughtful, and thorough. “I write a lot about being a trans woman. I do this because I believe there needs to be more literature in a wider variety of forms and styles about transness, and the lives, experiences, emotions, and culture of trans people. The hardest part of writing is, at a certain point, knowing what you actually want to say, or having an actual idea for the things you’re writing. You can only say ‘trans liberation now’ in so many ways before you start to feel like you’re unproductively repeating yourself.” When approaching the creation of her poetry, this repetition of trying the same thing over and over again has forced Hofmann to consider any implementation of her work: “This [repetition] problem is what prompts me to find weird new ways of writing things, or to devote myself to poetry inspired by research projects […] When you do have an idea, oftentimes the writing will take you alongside with it. […] And because with the type of poetry I do, I can’t really rely on mainstays of poetic technique, I often have to invent a new poetics of tactics of language in order to create something that works.” When asked about what the most joyful part of writing is, she replies “[t]he best part of writing is the part where you actually write. When I’m not writing, I get itchy, anxious. I start to loathe myself for not doing this thing which has basically rescued my life from contexts which go out of their way to squash trans self-realization. I become convinced I’ll never write again. But when I actually sit down to write with a good idea and coherent goals, however, it all comes back. Even if writing is hard work, it’s one of the most fun and engaging kinds of work that I can do.” Having to create a new language and process for poetry is no small undertaking, and a method that encompasses both visual and written components the way Hofmann’s pieces do requires a blending of multiple influences. “The biggest influences on my writing have been visual/experimental poets like Hannah Weiner, Douglas Kearney, M. NourbeSe Phillip, Never Angeline North, Jos Charles, Porpentine Charity Heartscape, and Susan Howe” says Hofmann. “These writers all pushed my ideas of what I thought writing could be further
Ava Hoffman
My mail looks way less complicated and somehow it still gets lost.
than before.” Additionally, Hofmann credits “watching documentaries and doing research into the realm of painting and visual art” as huge sources of inspiration for her. She says that “understanding the more open-ended and open-minded approach” of the visual arts fields in publishing and their “prioritization of process over craft” has “greatly expanded the way [she] thinks about writing and the things that [she] will
it does. Her astute way of bringing together large-scale concepts like these and grounding them in a tangible, concrete way shapes her everyday work, so I asked Hofmann how she engages with both the enormity of them, and how they manifest in an average day. “I think when sometimes your entire metaphysical viewpoint of the world has been shown to you to be a bunch of lies and scams,” Hofmann says, “it might encour-
secretly hate me.” However, there are reasons why this emotional reaction may exist. What Hofmann calls her “sometimes-instinctual distrust of cis people” isn’t rooted in something philosophical or political, rather, it’s manifested “symptoms of [her] fear of being hurt, and histories of failing to be understood by cis family members.” “I could say something real smart to justify the way I feel,” Hofmann says, “like ‘cisness is a
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When I’m not writing, I get itchy, anxious. I start to loathe myself for not doing this thing which has basically rescued my life from contexts which go out of their way to squash trans self-realization. I become convinced I’ll never write again. – Ava Hofmann
allow [herself] to consider ‘good enough’ writing to create and publish.” Hofmann’s ability to think outside the boundaries of poetry and her ability to remain open to moving away from the expected have managed to create poetry that is singularly beautiful and unique. I found Hofmann and her work on Twitter (@st_somatic), a place that lends itself to a pairing of short written pieces with image-based content. Hofmann’s Twitter account is full of thoughtful and often funny commentary on a broad range of topics. Recently, she commented on the line that is drawn in a usefulness/ uselessness distinction, and what
age you to be less confident in your own viewpoints about the world.” She argues it’s useful to think your views are correct for coping in the every day, and conversely, that it’s healthy to believe you may be wrong, but “there’s a risk in believing our emotional reactions to things” that also carries weight. Our everyday experience can be influenced by this broader, more philosophical and conceptual look at what our emotional reactions might lead us to believe and do. Hofmann continues: “Most of the things I feel are not true – despite what my brain tells me all the time, I am fairly confident that my friends do not
perspective predicated on refusing to acknowledge gender systems and is deeply tied to transphobia’” – and while she acknowledges this may likely be true, she wants to “maintain a healthy skepticism of [her] own perspective,” – since she often says things like this to “justify” her fear of leaving her apartment, “and because it feels good to resent the world around [her] for its cisness” sometimes. “At the same time,” Hofmann argues, “here is another true thing I can say, which is ‘the lives of trans people will only get better with collective action, and collective action requires mercy and understanding outside of one’s own comfort zone.’ And so[,] I
try to leave my apartment with the belief that I need to live in/ with the people around me, which includes cis people, even though it scares the fuck out of me,” because it’s largely for the greater good. “When we academize [sic] these philosophical or political issues,” she says, “we often exclude the opportunity […] for personal reflections on the emotional attachments that are informing our viewpoints.” After the very meta discussion of the process of developing a process for creating […], I asked Hofmann if putting the book together was a difficult one. She replied that […] “was essentially the first full poetry project I have ever completed to satisfaction,” born from “a series of poems inspired by Old English spells [she wrote] in 2016” Hoffman was still an undergrad and “slowly extricating myself from the controlling church contexts in which I had grown up: a person who hadn’t even come out to myself, let alone started transitioning.” Because of the time its creation spans, the book “functions as a kind of a record of my transition.” Using “depositions of different edits” from various points of her life “coexist in this kind of collage” – making a “fundamentally different” book than the one she imagined five years ago. “It’s the book whose creation I’m most proud of out of all of the manuscripts I’ve made since then,” Hofmann says, “but also it’s kind of the book I hate to look back on most for those same reasons – it can be hard for me to extend empathy to the person I was even five years ago.”
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
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Artist spotlight: Rooky Kamiz
Carillon’s own Graphics Editor Rooky Kamiz talks about his music and process
jorah bright arts writer Music allows you to just be: to forget about the expectations around you, to release your fears and worries, and just live in a single moment, for a single song. Music is a way to escape into comforting lyrics, rhythms, and melodies. It’s almost as though playing music can make a bubble that shields you from the outside world – and, additionally, it lets you be the structural architect of that bubble, able to fill it with as much joy and comfort as possible. In the last few years, smaller independent artists have been on the rise. These artists are able to create and release the music they want to without the pressure and limitations of a record label. Some of the most well-known independent artists of this generation are Macklemore and Frank Ocean. This week, I spoke with musician and Carillon Graphics Editor, Rooky Kamiz, about his music. When making his music, Kamiz likes to experiment with mixing different genres. “I am currently experimenting with the fusion of Rhythm and Blues (RnB) and Afrobeats influences.” When it comes to the influences behind these genre choices, Kamiz credits his homes throughout his life, from growing up in Nige-
ria to being inspired by living in Canada. In his music, Kamiz says he makes use of his vocal abilities. He also considers himself “an amateur at the piano.” Kamiz started making music because it was his “safe place,” his “love language,” and “a world where [he is] free from the bias and stereotypes and worries of the world.” Kamiz says, “I play music because it makes me feel happy […] I feel like the world is at peace and my world is heaven. Like I am a kid again with no worries, carefreely flowing with wind of the vibe.”
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When Kamiz heard the call of music on the wind, beckoning forth, asking him to take its hand and enter the world of melody and harmony, he listened. “Music chose me and I, in turn, chose music.” And once you start chasing the call of music, it is almost impossible to turn back. “When you are gifted with the rhythm, you find out that you can barely help but write and pour out your feelings in beautiful and sonorous melodies.” Kamiz said, regarding what inspired him to start writing music. Kamiz feels “elated” starting
song feels like, “sharing a piece of yourself ” and brings him a sense of “accomplishment.” When he creates music, Kamiz says “I feel this strong connection and soul bonding when I create music.” Creating art, whether it be music, illustration, or otherwise, is taking a piece of yourself that you kept hidden away and putting it all on the table: giving it to the world to see and react to what you have made. This practice is extremely important to him. “Aside from religion and family,” Kamiz says, “Music means the world to me […] I believe it is my purpose to create and share my music with
Music chose me and I, in turn, chose music. – Rooky Kamiz
Like many other musicians, Kamiz is inspired by other artists, and they influence the kind of music he makes: artists like the Weeknd, Wizkid, Drake, Sade, and Michael Jackson. Additionally, he says he “draw[s] inspirations from everything around [him…] My experiences, stories I hear, people I meet, situations I observe also. They all factor into my inspiration and writing process.”
to write a new song. The act of creating something new brings him great joy. He starts with “drawing out the thematic structure of the tune.” He sets the mood for the song, discovers the melody, and finds the theme to bring together the overall piece. Conversely, when Kamiz finishes writing a new song, he feels “like I have created a child and I [am] about to share this creative child with the world.” Finishing a
the world.” As Kamiz has worked on his music, he feels he has greatly improved, is proud of his growth in it, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. “I have been writing musical melodies for as long as I can remember, and I do not intend to back down anytime.” He feels most fulfilled whenever he pushes his own limits and creates something extraordinary. Kamiz is incredibly appre-
ciative of the audience that listens to and enjoys his music. “I’m also always proud of myself when people listen and discover my music,” he says. He talked about what it meant to him to have people engage with his musical content, saying “it means so much being heard and listened to and if they can decipher the lyrics and get the message, that’s perfect to me.” His music is incredibly catchy. The words and the beat will be stuck in your head for days. His discography is the perfect blend of songs that make you want to get up and dance, free and without abandon, and songs with a chill, lo-fi vibe that you can relax to. His joy is palpable when you listen to it. Each song is an experience of melody, rhythm, and impeccable flow. Every song is better than the last, which is an impressive feat considering how good each song is. Kamiz is a verified artist on Spotify, the popular music streaming platform, and boasts 134 monthly listeners. Rooky Kamiz can be found at rooky.ca/music. You can stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, and all other digital music streaming platforms. His EP Worlds Apart was released in 2020.
Rick Davis
A photo provided by our Graphic Editor that’s also of our Graphic Editor (what a weird place to work).
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
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TV series review: SurrealEstate
Canadian SyFy series brings heart and spooks, just in time for Hallowe’en!
jorah bright arts writer SyFy’s latest show, SurrealEstate, just had its first season come to a close. The show follows the Roman Agency, a real estate firm who specializes in haunted houses. It’s filmed in Newfoundland and Labrador and produced by BlueIce Pictures, a Canadian production company. Four out of ten of the episodes are directed by Danishka Esterhazy, who is an executive producer on the show and is best known for directing the 2019 film The Banana Splits Movie. Esterhazy’s light whimsy while still providing some decent scares really come through in her episodes. This review is spoiler free for those who may be interested in learning what it takes to sell a house with some supernatural squatters. SurrealEstate stars, Tim Rozon and Sarah Levy, play in the lead roles as Luke Roman and Susan Ireland. Rozon is fresh off his role as Doc Holliday in Wynonna Earp, and viewers will recognize Levy as Twila in Schitt’s Creek. Rozon’s Luke Roman is an interesting character. He’s able to talk to the ghosts and communicate with them in ways no one else can. But, even more than that, he genuinely cares about the families and the people he’s selling houses to. What’s even more surprising is
how much he cares for the ghosts. Unless they’re explicitly violent, he just wants to help lost spirits move on. All of this tied up with his mysterious backstory makes him a morally interesting character. He easily could’ve become a very different man, choosing to isolate himself to avoid the spirits haunting him. But instead he helps people, dead or alive, making him a likeable character for the audience. While Luke is pro at ghost hunting, Susan Ireland is a pro at selling houses – but there’s not much else to her. She’s a workaholic and struggles to get along with the rest of the team at times. Her belief in the supernatural stutters
from episode to episode. The most redeemable thing about Susan is Levy in the role. Without Levy’s optimism, Susan would’ve been less likeable. There are three additional team members at the Roman Agency: Maurice Dean Whit as August, the man who makes all ghost hunting tools; Savannah Basley as Zooey, the sassy office manager; and Adam Korson as Father Phil, an ex-priest in charge of the research. These characters are all interesting and fun, but they get less screen time compared to Susan and Luke. August is a less prominent character, but Whit’s performance makes him incredi-
ble. Basley brings a lot of vulnerability to Zooey, which makes her feel like a more well-rounded character. Korson’s performance is similar – he plays with a lot of wit and humour – but in the episode that explores Phil’s backstory more, you get some real heart-wrenching moments from the former priest. The ensemble also brings in queer representation with Zooey as a proud bisexual, and Father Phil and his husband that he’s trying to start a family with. SurrealEstate is an episodic series. Each episode focuses on two houses: one that can only be solved by Luke with his unique abilities to communicate with the spirit, and
Jackson Simmer via Unsplash
No way you could sell me this pile of boards and ghosts!
one that gets solved by Susan with her phenomenal real estate skills. Sometimes this makes the spooky storyline a little less scary, being brought back into the normal. Sometimes it works, and the episode flows really well. Overall, the show has a lot of hit and miss moments – but the ghost portions are fantastic! Each haunted house explores an overarching theme, like family, loneliness, or revenge. The theme of the episode particularly affects Luke, since he’s often the one left with the ghost at the end. Sure, there’s an ongoing storyline, but it’s not as interesting. And not every episode tells you anything about the outside plot, which mostly focuses on Luke and his past. It’s inconsistent – but honestly? I don’t care. At the end of the day, SurrealEstate is a fun show with a fun cast about selling haunted houses. I’m generally not a fan of horror media that focuses on ghosts and demons, but I loved SurrealEstate. The scares were never anything too intense, but just enough to remind you what kind of show you’re watching. It tackles its darker themes well, but doesn’t make you feel so sad that you don’t want to keep watching. A strong cast and lighthearted horror made the first season of SurrealEstate one of my favourite shows this year, and I’ve already put an offer in to watch this show again and again.
Unwell Exhibit Review Finding beauty in the unwell gillian massie staff writer Unwell, Maia Stark’s exhibit at Slate Fine Art Gallery, truly embodies the meaning of its title. It’s unsettling, uncanny, and makes you think about how you represent the “unwell” in everyday life. The exhibit is done using portraits of Stark and her twin sister, mainly done in acrylic on canvas or panel. Art that has been created in the pandemic is truly fascinating because it underscores how people are genuinely feeling in these difficult times. Through a series of self-portraits, Stark demonstrates a coherent exhibit that tells a story of the disturbed. In many of Stark’s paintings, figures are featured of some who look very
ill: red-rimmed and glossy-eyed figures embody the meaning of unwell entirely. Each photo includes a haunting twist showing Stark in a dark dreamscape. The premiere portrait of the exhibit, called “Tadpoles Grew into Frogs” shows the figure opening her chest to reveal veiny red frogs who have been using the host to grow. The exhibit has an excellent range of highs and lows, from unsettling to weird. One of my favorite examples showing this range is the portrait “To the Burrow we Go,” showing the figure racing through tall grass on a hare. Stark is on the same scale that a human would be riding a horse. The portrait challenges your thinking if the figure shrunk to the size of the hare, or if the hare grew to be the
size of a horse. Stark’s depiction of herself through animals shows commitment to her theme of unsettling. Stark has included a theme of herself embodying different animals. Some animals come in pairs, such as “Attendants,” a charcoal on paper portrait showing two birds with the same face. More charcoal on paper portraits show Stark as a wolf girl, some with just her face and a full head of hair on a wolf ’s body. The running theme of embodying animals suggests a desire to take a more primitive form. The charcoal on paper drawings are incredibly intricate, making them the most curated works. The front-facing portraits made an excellent asset to the unwell theme because, as I was star-
tled to find, the eyes of the paintings looking straight back at you. No matter where I moved in the gallery, the eyes of the front-facing portraits were always watching. The dark background tones contrast with the translucent colored portrait figures, making their faces look ghostly and haunting, particularly in “Tell Your Sorrows to the Flowers,” which features a figure eating red petals in the middle of a dark flower meadow. The dark background and eyes peering out at you are sure to strike you in your soul as you look at it. While the exhibit is genuinely unsettling as a whole, the portraits are stunning, showing the dark and mysterious beauty of being unwell (Editor’s note: fun fact, in the Victorian era, the tuberculosis
epidemic made it fashionable to look ill! They romanticized pale skin, tiny waists from lack of appetite, rosy lips and cheeks, etc.). “Sigil,” depicts beautiful agony in the representation of a figure surrounded by dark grass while she lays on the ground with a presumable tree growing out of her stomach, small red hares surround her while the tree begins to grow. Each painting wonderfully makes you think about its abnormalities, as well as demonstrates the beauty of the unwell. Maia Stark’s exhibit Unwell can be found at Slate Art Gallery on Thirteenth Avenue. It opened on Sept. 9 and will continue until Oct. 2 as a part of the Art Now 2021 show.
Gillian Massie
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editor: vacant sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
Queen City Marathon and the Night Owl 5K With virtual options, it’s not too late to take part in the race
holly funk editor-in-chief Can you tell me about your roles and responsibilities for the Queen City Marathon (QCM)? “I’m Shawn Weimer, the Executive Director of Run Regina, and the Race Director for the GMS Queen City Marathon. Those are sort of the two biggest roles I play within the organization. For me it’s my full-time job, managing the organization, and as an organization we’ve really got two things that we do. As Run Regina we are here to build the running and walking community within the city of Regina itself and to promote all things running and walking. As Queen City Marathon it’s to put on the best and biggest marathon this province has seen every single year.” I heard you say “running and walking,” so could you tell me more about how you define those groups? “We use the term running very broadly. Really, run is run, walk, hop, skip; I look at it as move from point A to point B, you get there how you get there. Obviously not on a bike or in a car, this is all doing it on your own. That being said, we do also have inclusion of people who are using some sort of mobility device whether that’s wheelchair-athletes racing that way, we’ve had kids in little scooters who participate in the events that we do, to adults who need to have canes or walkers or whatever it might be. It’s a very broad interpretation [...] we want them to know up front that we want to include them in what we do.” Has the Queen City Marathon already happened, or are people still able to partic-
Capstone Events via Unsplash
The only thing Sask drivers hate more than cyclists and protestors: marathon runners.
ipate? “Both! So, because we are still in the middle of a pandemic, our in-person event which we returned to this year had about 1,500 people participate the weekend of September 10, 11, 12, so we have three days of racing. Normally that would see close to 7,000 runners over those three days, so pre-pandemic that was kind of the numbers we were looking at. In 2020, as well as happening right now are our virtual marathon races. People are still able to participate right now and through October 15 in the Queen City Marathon this year in any of the distances, and we
terms of people, some just weren’t comfortable. We wanted to make sure we had an option for people come race weekend to opt out of in-person if they were feeling sick, but not have them miss out on the event itself. In 2019 had I woken up race morning with the flu and I felt uncomfortable running, that would’ve been it – I would’ve missed it. This year we said do not come, don’t show up at the race, we’re happy to allow you to transfer your registration to a virtual, we’ll still let you do your own thing, you’re going to get your t-shirt, your medal, you’ll get to put your race time into the results, but please do not come
people to 2019, the last year that we ran it fully in-person like that, we were in excess of 1,000 people. We had originally done it between the two residence towers kind of at the edge of the green, that’s kind of the space that we were in, there’s a little horseshoe space in there at the entrance. We outgrew that in 2019 and had to actually move out into one of the parking lots because we were such a big event, we weren’t able to kind of squish everybody in there anymore. “2020 obviously everything went virtual, this year it was a combination of both virtual – people are still running it now – as
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[…] this year it was a combination of both virtual – people are still running it now – as well as in-person. I think we had about 400 people this year, so it was still a large run – I mean it was the largest run in Saskatchewan since September 2019, so it was big […] – Shawn Weimer
actually – since race weekend – still have people registering, and still have people going out there and running their race.” What have been the benefits of adding that virtual, extended option? “It does mean that it’s open to people who aren’t necessarily in Regina, so it was important for us to maintain that virtual version for a number of reasons this year. One, we knew not everyone was going to want to come back to whatever size it was going to be in
and infect the 1,500 people that are coming to our race.” Fill me in on the University of Regina Night Owl 5K – how did it start, and how’s it gone through the pandemic? “We were able to actually start and end on the university campus. So not only was it a chance for the university to get involved, it was a chance to physically bring the race to the university campus itself which was a really cool opportunity […] from year one we had about 500
well as in-person. I think we had about 400 people this year, so it was still a large run – I mean it was the largest run in Saskatchewan since September 2019, so it was big – but we did actually move it off university campus this last year to the Conexus Arts Centre which is the base for the rest of the race weekend. “That was for a couple reasons. One, again, trying to ensure protection of the entire community. We wanted to make sure that the university students had the
best opportunity to come back successfully, and there’s a lot of change on campus from bringing students back for the first time in a year to the new president to a lot of different things, so we agreed to move it over for this year to see how that would go. For us it also logistically meant we didn’t have to operate two volunteer teams.” Outside of running (or walking, or skipping, or hopping) in the race, how can students get involved with QCM? “We have always opened the opportunities to volunteer up, and we’ve got groups from the university that are directly involved. The U of R Cougars men’s hockey team does host often a water station on the Night Owl race itself and they did that again this year, so they’re out there cheering and yelling, and handing out the water. The ultimate frisbee teams, men’s and women’s, historically have helped us do some of our core setup, so they go out and put up the kilometer marking signs at like two in the morning to make sure people the next morning know where they are. This year we actually had them out as course marshals instead, again trying to change things up a little bit because this year was weird. The JDC West business team has been involved almost since day one as volunteers, so they use it as part of their volunteer fundraising commitments as part of the club itself. So, there are some tight relationships that we have either through the teams or the clubs at the university to be able to get involved.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
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sports
Fishing tales with local Tik Tok sensation
Rylan Parrot shares equipment tips, season styles, and how he wound up catching pike in his underwear victoria baht sports writer Fishing is a pastime for a lot of people, and a hobby to enjoy with family and friends. It is used for an adventure and a way to escape reality. For Rylan Parrot, it is a great way to meet others, have fun, create funny Tik-Tok videos, and to beat provincial records. The Carillon did an interview with him to give you insight on his experience catching some crazy fish. How long have you been fishing for and where did you get your passion from? Parrot’s passion began when he was 10 years old. It all started on a school a trip where he noticed how cool the water fountain was in the middle of a lake. “Then instantly the thought of going fishing emerged in my head and I haven’t look back since.” Your fishing series seems professional, fun, and like you are willing to risk a lot for this sport. Do you have any sponsor or workmanship/jobs that you have partnered with over the years? Parrot has been lucky to meet so many people that love fishing just like he does. During his fishing experience, he has had the opportunity to partner with both FXR pro-fish and Cabela’s Canada. This gave him the opportunity to connect with many other fishermen, or as he would say, “diehard outdoorsman, and show my love of fishing on a greater scale!” If there was one person you could thank for helping you to gain this much experience, who would it be? It is simply impossible to thank one person. Parrot has met so many people in-person and virtually over the years of fishing who have grown his knowledge of fishing immensely. The best part of fishing and meeting new people is that there is always something to learn, and you can never stop learning. Whether it be a technique, a spot, species, or any other aspect, this is a sport that is and can be for everyone. Parrot has seen it himself and experienced it with others. Fishing is a sport that thousands of people have a passion for, and it has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic as it’s easy to distance while participating. Now, there are two seasons of fishing: summer and winter. Which is your favourite season to fish and why? The answer is summer fishing. The reasoning for this is pretty standard because, really, who likes to sit in negative 30-degree Celsius and drill never- ending ice holes? Even if it is rewarding at a point, you’re still fighting those nasty winds to catch a killer fish. What are some simple supplies you would recommend to our readers to make sure you have for each season that make fishing fun and easy? Start it off simple. For summer fishing, go to Cabela’s and
Yvess Bison
Everybody’s favourite Tinder pic.
get a simple rod for around $20 with a nice pickle rig, night crawlers, and you are set for a good start. As a substitute, you can get a classis bobber. This is a bonus because you can sit back, watch the kids play, and when the bobber goes down, that’s your moment! Winter fishing is a little tougher. First, you need an au-
“I personally love to use big mackerel from Superstore with a big hook, and lay it just under the ice. The best part of using a tip up is that there is a flag attached. So, you wait around until that flag goes up in the air – then it’s game on!” Parrot’s go-to fishing method in the Saskatchewan winters is with two lines. One with a min-
changing my clothes, I checked outside on my tip up and my flag was up. So, out of pure instinct, I jumped out the shack in my underwear and sprinted to the tip up, and caught a big pike!” Hours later Parrot and his buddy uploaded a video to Tik Tok where it received roughly 25 million views, and over 120 million views
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The nice thing about fishing in Saskatchewan lakes is that they won’t break the bank. Once you get live bait on the hook you can sit back and relax, and they will do the work for you! – Rylan Parrot
ger to get through the ice, though you can go from electric to hand crank, depending on your budget. Once you have an auger you just use your rod with a jig head and a minnow, and you are set – or you can set up a tip up, which is commonly used for pike and bigger fish. “The nice thing about fishing in Saskatchewan lakes is that they won’t break the bank. Once you get live bait on the hook you can sit back and relax, and they will do the work for you!” What is one method of fishing you personally enjoy?
now on your rod, then the second with that tip up in the shallower water to catch a crazy pike. What is a funny story that you would like to share with our readers? This past winter, Parrot created a crazy memory that went viral on social media. It involved drilling a hole that was about 15 feet wide in his ice shack where he could literally see the fish swimming right under. “At the end of the day I decided we should make a video of myself jumping in. I jumped into the freezing cold water cannonball style! While I was
on other social media platforms. You have recently travelled to BC to catch some white sturgeon. Can you tell us about this fishing experience and what it is like to catch these enormous fish? Parrot remembers watching television when he was young and seeing people catching these fish, hoping this would be him one day. One day in July, Parrot and his mom went out, and it was all he dreamed of. The two-day trip got them over 14 fish, each over seven feet long. The crazy part about these fish is that they can jump up
to five feet in the air, and when you see fish jump out of the water, it truly makes you go “wow.” Parrot was lucky enough himself at one point to catch a 10-foot white sturgeon. What are some species that you are currently on the hunt for? One on his bucket list is to travel to the Yukon and catch a native arctic or a musky in the Great Lakes. What is an ordinary species that you have caught in the Saskatchewan Lakes? A brown bullhead that was over five inches, making a provincial record! What is your ultimate favourite catch that you have made? The best and favourite catch was the 10-foot Sturgeon on his BC trip. “The sheer power and wow factor of those fish will keep me coming back for more and more!” If these crazy fun fishing stories do not make you want to go fishing, the Carillon does not know what will! Fishing is a great sport and hobby no matter where you are in Canada; whether you’re catching some walleye in the Saskatchewan lakes or catching huge white sturgeon in BC.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
sports
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Cash in on student rec fee with virtual options Get active online by trying weight training bootcamps, yoga, pound, and more through URFit
hammad ali staff writer It is that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colour, mornings and late nights are beginning to get cooler, and some of us have had to hunt down the places we stored away our winter gear back in spring – which is to say another gorgeous Saskatchewan summer is on its way out, and that also means a dearth of opportunities for outdoor activities. With everything that is going on in the world around us, it remains important to get some physical activity regularly. The really good news is that this year, University of Regina students will have more options for fitness and recreation classes at no extra cost. While there’s probably nothing that can beat the experience of being outdoors on a gorgeous, sunny day, that is not always an option due to the weather. However, as it gets substantially colder, it is still possible to get some exercise. It helps to remember that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. The weather may not be ideal for being outside, but some light stretching and calisthenics indoors is still better than just sitting in one spot all day. If health and fitness is a goal, it is much better if we can
Bruce Mars via Unsplash
They look more focused on yoga than I’ve ever been on anything in my entire life.
do a little every day than hold out for that one perfect week when we go all out. Besides, there is no such thing as the perfect week anyway. So, we need to do something daily. Maybe some yoga, or bodyweight exercises. These days, YouTube has tutorials for pretty much any level. If, however, you are the kind of person that prefers some human interaction, and coaching,
got a discounted rate on all the different fitness classes that Rec Services offers. This fall, as an experiment, all students who have been charged the rec fee will continue to have free access to the FLC and will also have access to a variety of fitness classes. Some of the classes available through this opportunity are yoga, spin, cardio and weight training bootcamps, and
exercises that will be held at the swimming pool, for those of us more at home in the water. The most recent list of offerings and schedules are available through the URFit section of the Recreation Services page on the U of R’s website. Students should note that all classes being offered will still be shown to have a registration fee, and they need to create an account with their uregina.ca
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This is also the first year this option is being made available to students, but given the response, it can certainly be hoped that it will be an ongoing opportunity. – Hammad Ali
and watching a YouTube video is just not the same, you have more options on campus this fall. In previous years, all students who were charged the rec fee had free access to the Fitness and Lifestyle Centre (FLC). In addition, they
even zumba and pound. More recently, a new class on Barre fusion has been added, as well as a class on social/ballroom dancing. As the URFit website mentions, these are just their land classes. There are also classes on AquaFit
email address in order to be eligible for the student discount mentioned. We got in touch with Jessica Lewgood, the Student Manager for URFit, to learn more about this brand-new opportunity. Lew-
good mentioned that, for now, this is an experiment on providing all these classes for free. However, the student response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. This is also the first year this option is being made available to students, but given the response, it can certainly be hoped that it will be an ongoing opportunity. Masks will be required for all in-person classes, and physical distancing protocols will be maintained. There will also be more frequent cleaning and sanitation of the rooms. Lewgood mentioned that while most of the classes have been underway since late August, as long as there are open spots, students are able to register. Should a student not be sure if they want to commit for the full term, free drop-in passes for a class can be picked up from the KHS Client Services Desk to the right of the main KHS building entrance during weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.. It should be noted that drop-in passes are first come first serve, though some live-streamed options are available and can be accessed on the URFit website if you miss out on the pass option.
Bernd Schulz cia Unsplash
I love the way I can almost feel the nip in the air from this picture.
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 14
sports
Finding “spiritual me” in the Qu’Appelle Valley The Sask landscape jumps to life with Friesen’s take on hiking the Tansi portion of the Trans Canada trail
mindy friesen contributor This is me being spiritual. This is the spiritual me. Early on a quiet Sunday morning, or a holiday Monday, I get my backpack and the dog harness. Lucy supervises the packing. We take bottles of water, Lucy’s pop-up water dish, dog biscuits, “poop” bags, my phone, wallet, and keys. I help Lucy get her pulling harness on. She makes sure that I am putting my harness on; I step into mine and buckle it around my waist. There is a tether and bungee that attach us as we hike, walk, and jog together. Lucy likes being the leader, but I get to call the directions. We live near the Town of Fort Qu’Appelle, which is about a 45-minute drive from the city of Regina. Our favorite trail is a section of the Trans Canada Trail beginning at the highway junction of Highways 35 and 56. We park at the Robo-Sales Gas Station and hike five kilometers of the Trans Canada to the village of Lebret and back. This is part of a larger portion of the Trans Canada trail in the area known as the Tansi. Lucy and I began hiking here because it is an accessible pathway, free of charge, and enough distance to satisfy us without exhausting. We are parallel to the highway most of the way, but oftentimes dip down into little treed crevices or crest hilltops – viewpoints that delight just as well
Holly Mandarich via Unsplash
Millennials finding yet another hobby that’s better with dogs than kids.
as if we were miles away from mankind. This is the Qu’Appelle Valley. The trail smells like sage and wild cherries and damp earth. The late rains paint the far banks of Mission Lake a deep, emerald green right on the cusp of autumn. Pelicans are brilliant white against the green as they rise, fish, and land simultaneously across the scattered blue surface. The lake lolls today, it laughs. It
knows. The dark cormorants are gathering around the fringes, and the sun is high and bright, but cool. Blazing Star dots the grassy byways with clumps of purple spires, and Goldenrod sweeps the grass with its yellow brooms. I trail my fingers through the tickly soft grass heads just as I did as a child, far from here. Sometimes I grasp them and pull them clean from their stems and let the seeds trickle between my fingers as we
walk. A pair of doves shuffle down the powerlines ahead of us, occasionally flying to keep some space between us. Always forward, never back. Lucy sees as much with her nose as with her eyes, and we pause sometimes so that she can examine inviting smells. It’s her time too. The crickets are piping, and the hoppers snap across the trail as we stir them up. Rosehips are plump and nearly ripe.
This is where we remember who we are. We don’t come to get fit, we come to keep healthy. Mind and body and the natural world are entwined for us, inseparable. It is being among others – whether plants, trees, insects, birds, mammals, or the elements – that puts the human-made world into perspective. That world becomes quite small in all this space. The freer we become, the more we run. When Lucy is happy running her ears fold back against her head, and the tips bounce together over her shoulders. If she gets distracted when she is running her right ear starts to swivel forward. We stop for a water break on a little hill overlooking Lebret. As we near the end of our hike, a golden eagle circles over the hillside. It is joined by another, and another. I can feel my breathing slow as I stop and gaze up at them. One eagle circles closer, as if we’ve caught its curiosity. No doubt we are a somewhat curious sight out here. A golden dog wearing a pink harness and a dishevelled curly-haired human with a pack on its back. The dog is attempting to pin and devour a grasshopper during this pause in activity. The eagle makes eye contact with the human and brushes its cool-winged shadow across her sunny left shoulder. In the space of that touch, she is hollow there and full somewhere else, at once. In an eagle eye. On an eagle day.
Pros and cons of the campus gym
While facilities are open and options are flexible, there are some things left to be desired
victoria baht sports writer
For those of you who have not had the opportunity to try out the University of Regina’s gym this year, here is what you are missing out on! The Carillon decided to give you an inside look at the pros and the cons that the gym has to offer – so let’s get into the equipment, the staff, the organization, the members of the gym, and more. Now, if you have not noticed, the U of R gym is on the second floor of the KHS building, based off a track going around the three gymnasiums on the first floor, which makes up for a cool set up. Before you head upstairs, walk down the hall towards the pool. This is where the change rooms are and you can choose to lock your bags in a locker, or there is a small closet room for your bags in the gym that does not have a locking option. Then, walk up the stairs, and to check yourself in you must walk across the track, so make sure you look both ways before crossing because there are sprinters and walkers going in opposite directions. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic all four lanes of the
track open have been kept open, which means two lanes walking and two lanes running. When you look down from that track and the cardio area you can see the sports teams practice. This can be encouragement for some gym members to keep pushing through, and it can also keep you entertained as you run that extra mile on the treadmill. As you workout at the U of R gym, what can be encouraging for others is the fact that there is no
dress code, which means you can dress as comfortably as you like to get that workout done. The only “dress code” that has been added this year is to keep your mask always on! We have discussed the pros, now let’s look at the cons of the gym. Now, it is true to say that a gym should be clean in general and should be sanitized no matter what. From my perspective, this gym lacks in that department. From experience, as someone
who has worked out there multiple times, you normally do not see their staff cleaning equipment, changing out cleaning rags, or filling up cleaning bottles. Not only is it about the staff, but the equipment itself is not the most sanitary. Let’s say you finish a set of squats, and you go to clean your weights – your cleaning rag may just turn black. This gives you two pieces of information: that they have not been sanitized, and that they are not being cleaned in
Come for the view, stay for the freshmen gym bums who don’t have the tact to know that every second they stare lowers their chances with you. Victoria Baht
general. This next part is on both staff and members: when you are done a set and have cleaned your supplies, please just put your equipment where you found it. It should not be a hunt to go and find matching weights and dumbbells. You are paying to be here to workout, not to look around for equipment. Lasty, when you are at the gym, one of the main goals of working out is to remain safe physically. This mostly involves your form, but the U of R should make this manageable for everyone, and I don’t think they do. For example, the boxes that are commonly used for box jumps are nowhere near stable in my experience. This can severely hurt someone as they are jumping, and can risk falling back on their head or misplacing their jump because that said box has now moved. It impacts your shock absorption, and you chance jarring your joints. As you have read, the U of R gym has pros and cons. Now, it is up to us as a student body, members, and as athletic teams to bring our concerns forward so this gym can be fun, safe, and usable for everyone.
op-ed
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editor: sarah nakonechny op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
A needle is a simple thing
The entitlement of those who can get a vaccine but won’t is disgustingly outstanding
Nick Fewings via Unsplash
If you didn’t get a sticker, did it really happen?
Earlier this year, I remember writing about how the Saskatchewan government has done all the right things to combat the pandemic. The only problem is that it has always been about six weeks behind on each solution. A mask mandate was put in place towards the end of summer in 2020, about six weeks too late compared to when it would have actually helped. A drive for increased vaccination rates began in early spring, again about six weeks after it would have really meant something. In late April, we went into a stricter lockdown. While it is true that the lockdown helped and the number of new cases started to look more manageable, the government then went ahead and decided to scrap all public health measures and essentially declared they were done caring about the pandemic. Like the clichéd supervillain who has the hero in his clutches, at his mercy, and then inexplicably walks away without finishing off the hero, the government of this province has stepped away from the fight against COVID-19 every time it has begun to look like we might have a fighting chance. Most recently, we have brought back the masking requirement in public indoor spaces and have made vaccines mandatory for all those without a valid exemption. As usual, we have probably been the last province in Canada to put these requirements in place, and based on the current situation, it is unclear that the logistics to enforce the vaccine requirement will be ready in time for October 1 when the mandate comes into effect. It seems to be a matter of common knowledge that the reason behind this constant dilly-dallying by the government is the concern that some Saskatchewan inhabitants are likely to be unhappy with a vaccine passport or renewed public health measures. Sometimes, when I am entertaining ideal thoughts, I like to ponder how far you could take that line of thought. If enough people express outrage about
drunk driving laws, should we repeal those laws too? In fact, if this is indeed a free country and I do indeed have rights, how come I have to get a driver’s license before hitting the streets with my car? What is all this about needing a medical degree to start prescribing medication? We do have rights, and it would in fact be wrong to take away our rights at the slightest pretext. However, as a civilized society, we also have responsibilities towards each other. We have a moral obligation to protect those of us who are the weakest and most vulnerable. As of now, children under the age of 12 are unable to get a
not going to give us respite just because we want (need) it. We are not out of the woods yet and, if anything, things might take a turn for the worse if we continue on our current trajectory. Ever since the vaccination requirement has been on the news, at both the federal and provincial levels there has been talk of whether a government has the legal authority to require this. Once again, I find myself baffled; I am confident that all nations have always had a vaccination requirement for a variety of other diseases. In fact, the reason why smallpox is not on the news a whole lot these days is
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It seems to be a matter of common knowledge that the reason behind this constant dilly-dallying by the government is the concern that some Saskatchewan inhabitants are likely to be unhappy with a vaccine passport or renewed public health measures. – Hammad Ali
vaccine. Among the vaccinated, those of advanced age or with other medical issues are still very vulnerable. This means that those of us who can get vaccinated, should get vaccinated – all the more so if we are in contact with any of the groups mentioned previously. It also means that whenever we are heading out or going to be in contact with others, we are mindful of the health and safety measures we have been told about for the past 18 months. I am aware COVID fatigue is a thing. Unfortunately, the virus does not get tired, and the virus is
that enough people got the vaccine, and the virus was no longer able to propagate. Governments have always enforced vaccines and other health-related measures, all the more so when it comes to working for the government in some capacity. As for private businesses, a restaurant can require something like patrons must always wear something bright purple or they will be refused service, as it’s a private space. I am genuinely surprised, and more than a little concerned, at how few people seem to understand this concept. I read a social
media comment about someone threatening to sue a yoga studio for requiring proof of vaccination, and all I can say is we are far away from a world where yoga lessons are a human right. In fact, I am not sure we would want a world where it is. All of that before you even get me started on all those people who think the government should not be telling an individual what to do with their own bodies. Unless, you know, the individual is female, the body is pregnant, and what they want to do with it is get an abortion. Then it is perfectly acceptable to legislate every single action of this person with regard to their own body. This is not the first time I have said this, but it bears repeating: the last 18 months have been hard. We are still not completely in the clear. One of the most disheartening realizations I personally have had in these 18 months is how little regard some people around us have for others. Someday, this whole thing will be over. We will hopefully no longer have to worry about a loved one falling sick and not being able to get an ICU bed for them, something that I personally have experienced. A part of me cannot help but lament how, even in the best of times ahead, we will always know how many of us were unwilling to take a few simple precautions, knowing full well that they could have saved lives. We will always know when faced with their own sense of entitlement and their duty to the community, so many chose entitlement. We will recover from the pandemic, the economic implications, and the social isolation - but I don’t know if we will recover from that realization.
hammad ali staff writer
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
op-ed
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
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Death, dying, and the ways we think about it
Although we may be scared of dying, we can’t help but talk about it Death: something that we argue about, something that we fear, something that we wish we did not have to deal with. Although we live in fear of death, we also seem to be unable to help ourselves when it comes to voicing our opinions on the matter. Whether it is talking about what we think death entails, how we feel about a person dying, or the way they died, we all know of some form of media that illustrates the concept for us as well. It’s time for a breakdown of these popular opinions and some that aren’t so popular. We are all familiar with the points of death that we experience while still present on Earth. It involves the halting of one’s heartbeat, and the brain’s systems no longer respond to the world or work to maintain our internal systems so we cease to move through another day. But what else is there? Many people will tell you some variation of an afterlife that they believe in and many hinge on this idea of us having a soul. This soul detaches from us when our physical body finally fails us and is free to move onto whatever the next step is. The soul’s next step seems to fall into one of two categories for most people I’ve spoken to. First, it plays into this idea of a heaven or hell for one’s soul to go live in after it has departed. Some believe that this works based on a utilitarianism standpoint, meaning that every action you perform on Earth holds either positive or negative value and everything we do should be in an attempt to “earn more positive points” so we can enjoy the good life that heaven would provide afterwards. Others don’t think it is quite so straightforward and that there is a higher power there to judge us. This being will weigh the pros and cons of our life and decide if the negative things we did were because of who we are as a being or
if it was necessary given the circumstances. If things go as planned - congratulations, you’ve made it to the pearly gates and are on your way to eternal happiness and peace! For those who are not a fan of the judgement and eternal happiness or damnation, there is another option that people tend to lean towards: reincarnation. This concept is fascinating as each person has their own ideas of what is considered to be a worthy body to hold space in versus what would be seen as a “demotion” in the spiritual world. Everybody wants to be a
our previous life. For those who don’t have one, either it was something that would not have left an obvious single marking – like drowning – or they are a new soul who has not undergone the process of their physical body dying before. Looking outside of our own experience dying, people always have something to say when someone else dies. Now we all know the horrible phrases that are used at funerals like “God needed another angel,” or “they’re in a better place.” All of these are nonsense as we don’t actually know what has happened to them and we are
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Now we all know the horrible phrases that are used at funerals like “God needed another angel,” or “they’re in a better place.” All of these are nonsense as we don’t actually know what has happened to them and we are only attempting to comfort those who hold the same beliefs as we do about death. – Sarah Nakonechny
human and believes that this is the ultimate form to work towards. Nobody wants to be a cat, but personally, that sounds a lot nicer to me. There are many interesting ideas that work around the idea of reincarnation. One that I find particularly interesting is in conjunction with the birth marks that many people have. The belief with these is that the placement of our birthmarks is in direction relation to the way we died in
only attempting to comfort those who hold the same beliefs as we do about death. Not only are we very ineffective in comforting those in mourning, but we’re also horrible about commenting on the ways people have died. If it’s self-inflicted, many will refer to it as being selfish or the individual taking the easy way out. For those who were killed by the actions of another, then the hunt to get even often over-
shadows the true loss that occurred. While those who died of natural causes lived a full life and it’s posed as though this is their reward for contributing to the world. Our tolerance of the way people die is an odd concept as it doesn’t feel like something we should attach standards to. Our ideas of death are also shaped by the media that we consume. This idea that death itself is a being that comes and collects you is not a novel idea by any means. Television shows like Supernatural or novels like The Book Thief that portray death as a character that has opinions and a means of interacting with us is an interesting concept that we’ve allowed ourselves to find comfort in. Again, allowing the fate of when our physical lives end to be placed in the hands of a being that has the choice to come and collect us or not is comforting for many. This also allows us to feel as though we do not have to go through that next step alone - someone that is knowledgeable about the process will be present to ensure that we get to where we need to go in a safe and effective manner. Death is a concept that we have been playing with as humans for a very long time. Whichever way we have chosen to find comfort and meaning, this seemingly meaningless act is done so with the intention of providing comfort. Leaning on religious beliefs, the stories that pop culture has provided us with, or coming up with you own – it all leads to the same conclusion in the end. We don’t know why death happens when it does, and we don’t know what it looks like afterwards – all we can do is find comfort any way we can.
sarah nakonechny op-ed editor Wikipedia Commons
A skull but no crossbones? What is this, death on a budget?
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
op-ed
Canada – the land of fake democracy
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Election 44 did nothing but show that we have learned nothing as a country
Last week, Canada had an election. Around 62 per cent of eligible Canadians cast their ballot (a number that’s somewhat low, but not the lowest we’ve seen in the past decade) in what we’re all told is a glorious display of democracy in action, or, if not a glorious display, then at least democracy. But let me be very clear: what happened last Monday was not democracy. I’m sure that there are many people who would vehemently disagree with me, who are composing furious responses in their heads, refusing to read further in disgust, or deciding that I am not someone to be taken seriously. That’s fine. I stand by it: what happened last Monday was not democracy, and Canada is not as democratic a country as it pretends to be. And the most remarkable thing about Election 44 is that somehow, remarkably, no one actually won anything. Justin Trudeau, who thought he could wrangle a majority on the strength of his response to a pandemic that has killed 28,000 Canadians and immiserated countless others, only to gain a single seat, did not win. Erin O’Toole, whose party is down two seats after an election that was, at various points, his to win, did not win. Jagmeet Singh, who couldn’t spin his immense popularity as a leader into more than a single seat despite the fact that (or, perhaps because of the fact that) his party apparatus poured $24 million – $10 million more than they spent in 2019 – into a campaign that former candidate Jessa McLean called “not a movement [but] an ad campaign” certainly did not win. The feeble Greens, whose leader, Annamie Paul, didn’t win her own seat, did not win. Neither did Maxime Bernier, the leader of the far-right white nationalist People’s Party (although given the party’s gains in terms of votes, it is fair to say they didn’t lose). More than anyone, though, Canadians lost. There’s a particularly pernicious thing that many Canadians (mostly, but not always, those over 40) do any time there’s an election. Which is that they share about a million memes about the power of voting (often these memes simultaneously denigrate those who exercise other forms of political agency, like protestors) or they share that one Rick Mercer quote about how you, a Young Person, must “scare the hell out of the people who run this country”
Wikipedia Commons
Glad to see the candidate with the best quality, his hair, won.
capitalist country and because it is a country with a weak and fragile brand-based national identity, would have you believe that you, the individual, are the most important unit of society; and that you, the individual, have enormous power to alter your own fate and the fate of the nation and that simply isn’t true. You as an individual can do as much as the resources you have been given - from familial wealth to citizenship to white skin to a brain that produces the chemicals it is meant to produce in the quantities it needs to produce them in – allow you to do. To become something more, you need to be a part of a community. The “demos” in democracy means people – it means the people. Not individual persons, not you, alone, casting a ballot. My advice to you, if you have not already done this, is to find a group of like-minded people and figure out what your community needs from you. This may be community fridges, it may be shelters, it may be a union drive, it may be something else entirely, but figure out what this system is not giving to the people you are in community with and figure out a way to get it for them. Fight like hell for them. Undermine authority for them. Build parallel power structures for them. Think critically about violence and oppression and repression and what kind of violence and oppressions and repressions you are willing to tolerate and why you are willing to tolerate some and not others. Conceive of yourself as a political subject, someone with political responsibilities and obligations far beyond the limits of a polling station. And don’t imagine that you will be able to vote in change, because you can’t. The most important work of a democracy happens in between elections (I know what some of you are thinking and you can’t change the NDP from the inside and, I promise, that party is too far gone – the humane thing to do is put it out of its misery. Stop giving to it what you could be giving directly to your community.). Do all of these things, and then vote or don’t vote. I used to be one of those people who believed that voting was a meaningful and necessary part of participating in Canadian democracy and I no longer feel that way. We grow, we change, we watch a few elections and become cynical and disil-
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It’s just to say that when we talk about people dying for democracy, when we talk about those who have given their lives and had their lives stolen in the fight against autocracy and fascism and white nationalism, this weak, watered-down, insipid democracy was not what they were dying for. – Sara Birrel
by doing the thing that Young People Everywhere are “dying” to do, which is vote. And I say it’s pernicious because no one is dying to vote, and pretending that they are, pretending that the act of casting a ballot is in and of itself a significant exercise in democracy, or that voting is a radical act that can meaningfully upset the balance of power, is a dangerous fiction that only serves to further entrench the status quo. If, every two to four years, you get the dubious opportunity to grudgingly cast your ballot for the least bad person in your riding (or possibly the second least bad person, if you live in a riding where our first-past-the-post system puts pressure on
you to vote “strategically”), that’s not democracy. If parties can hold a majority of the power in Parliament without getting a majority of the votes, and if there’s no real way to hold those parties accountable for the policies they do or do not enact, if a majority of people in the country approve of certain policies, like wealth taxes or more action on climate change, but those in power don’t enact those policies or meaningfully reduce inequality, that’s not democracy. None of this is to say that Canada isn’t more democratic than, say, many of the sovereign Indigenous nations and nations of the global South whose political autonomy is continually undermined by Canadian foreign policy in order to ensure
that Canadian mining corporations maintain control of natural resources. It’s just to say that when we talk about people dying for democracy, when we talk about those who have given their lives and had their lives stolen in the fight against autocracy and fascism and white nationalism, this weak, watered-down, insipid democracy was not what they were dying for. Voting under the current system is a less-than-compelling tool for democracy because so often our votes are wasted (and I don’t buy the idea of a protest vote), and because voting, for all the campaign rallies and the Get Out the Vote teams, is a solitary act. It is something that you do on your own. And this country, because it is a
lusioned, and old people accuse us of being Maoists for bullying landlords when what we actually want is for everyone to have a warm and safe home and enough to eat and medicine and art. It’s all part of growing up, baby. Canada is not the country many of us were raised to believe it to be, and, like any toxic partner, the best thing we can do is distance ourselves.
sara birrell news editor
sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |18
op-ed
Pain is not a spectator sport
Others may be hurt worse than you, but that doesn’t make your experience any less
Gillian Massie
Pumpkin spice and everything nice for this cliché fall scenery photo.
The road to recovery is painful and never ending; this is how I began September. Putting on shoes, walking downstairs, standing for too long, all of it ending in prolonged aches in my left ankle. Throughout the day, it’s always in the back of my mind. Be careful of how you step off the curb. Make sure you hold onto the handrail. Don’t sit for too long, otherwise your ankle will be stiff. Don’t push yourself too hard. Go slow. Pain is a double entendre in this scenario, physically representing the pain in my ankle and mentally demonstrating my own impatient frustrations with healing. I live for the summer months every year. I could do without the bugs and ungodly heat, but it is the perfect time to be outside on my bicycle. In the evenings, I
customed to cycling on a wet track. On my first round of the track – going way too fast – I approached the first and sharpest turn and caught some mud. Losing control of my bike, I slid sideways off the track, putting my foot out to try and catch myself on my way down while jamming it into the concrete below me. I laid on the ground in a muddy puddle, prayed that nobody saw what just happened, then called my dad who took me to the ER. Injury is embarrassing. This is the first major instance that I have had to enter emergency care and I felt I had an inferior excuse to some of the rest of the individuals who need it. The shooting pain up my ankle suggested it was necessary, but I felt like a wimp explaining to the nurse that I
short-staffed workplace even moreso. Returning to work the following Monday proved to be difficult. I had a very noticeable limp as I walked around, which many people asked about. In the back of my mind, I always knew that I should have taken more time off, but I felt guilt about leaving anyone short-staffed. I also did not want to look weak for not showing up to work because I was hindered by my injury. Griping and groaning would not help in this scenario and would evidently get me sent home, where I would be even more miserable. I wanted to continue with work to potentially exercise my ankle so it would continue to heal. In a confrontation with a co-worker, I was publicly outed on how my injury was making me look unprofessional. This en-
down, but I dug myself into a deeper hole by letting my ego get in the way. Upon returning to classes in late August I finally felt ready to begin trying something to get active. I had not been in the gym since before my accident, and all I had really accomplished was a few slow bikes. I thought I completely totalled the good old beach cruiser on impact, bending the handlebar and foundation at an unnatural angle and scrapping the brakes on the ground, making it an unstoppable menace on the road. After a visit to my dad’s repair shop (A.K.A the garage) it is as good as new, with a few new detailing scrapes all around. Back on campus for the semester, I began going for daily walks on the path around Wascana. These walks slowly pro-
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I was never professionally pulled aside or consulted by anybody before this, and it put me on edge. I threw out any notion of requesting time off work because now I felt obligated to prove a point that I was more than my injury, and I could still perform tasks no matter my condition. – Gillian Massie
tend to lace up my runners and head out to the local track where I ride around until I have finished a podcast episode or a new album. I conclude my ride by ripping down the biggest hill in town, always finishing with a little adrenaline kick before parking my bike in the garage until the next evening. Every summer always starts out the same. I begin with short distances, and slowly creep up to achieving greater distances at higher speeds. It is quite exciting to track my progress each year, and result in yearly comparisons of different times and distances. In late July, all of my progress came to a halt. My first mistake was setting out shortly after it had finished raining. After a horrific heatwave summer, I was not ac-
fell off my bike. Laying in a muddy, soggy heap on the table while she flushed gravel out of my knee, I explained how my pileup occurred. Only, I did feel less embarrassed was when she went to remove my shoe to find that I burned off three shoelaces and a chunk of plastic from my shoe while sliding across the track. I felt it justified my injury more. It showed that my collision gave me some scars. You could see it, so it was real. You should not have to see injury for it to be justified as a valid injury. I crawled up the porch and into my house upon returning home from the hospital. With my ankle swollen to the size of a grapefruit, there was no way I could attend work the next morning – another embarrassment as I felt terrible leaving an already
counter was in front of other co-workers and where other patrons could hear, and had the end result of humiliation. If this encounter was done with my best interest (healing) in mind rather than done as a threat to make me stay working, I would have taken time off. I was never professionally pulled aside or consulted by anybody before this, and it put me on edge. I threw out any notion of requesting time off work because now I felt obligated to prove a point that I was more than my injury, and I could still perform tasks no matter my condition. Very soon after this I re-injured myself, making it mandatory that I take time off of work. I prolonged my healing process and gained absolutely nothing by trying to prove a point. I was kicked while I was
gressed to jogs, and then runs. I have never been a runner, so I started off incredibly slow, but within the beauty of it I have noticed better mobility with my ankle slowly starting to form. Pain has slowly begun to subside as I begin to drop a couple of second each round I make. Pain is not a spectator sport. The validity of your own pain should not be determined by spectators around you. You yourself know what it is that you are feeling. It should not be supressed by others around spectating or trying to define how you feel.
gillian massie staff writer
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editors: sarah carrier, rooky jegede graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 30 - oct 6, 2021
